


That Other Road - drabbles, mini- and micro-fics

by Leni



Series: That Other Road [2]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2016-07-12
Packaged: 2018-07-23 01:58:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7462176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If it's between 50 and 800 words, it's posted here.</p><p>---</p><p>They took a different road. Beth never hurt her ankle. They never found the undertaker's home.</p><p>They just kept walking. Together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That Other Road - drabbles, mini- and micro-fics

Beth's squeal would have alerted any person - dead or alive - in a hundred-yard radius, if Daryl hadn't clamped his free hand over her mouth. He didn't dislike this group they'd fallen in with, this last week, but no need to tempt the curiosity of near-strangers. "You want the whole camp piled up on us to get at this?" he berated her, but held out the carton he'd secreted in the bottom of his pack.

"Oh my God," Beth gushed, grinning as wide as if he'd bought her dinner at a five-star restaurant. "It's _cold_."

"It's half-melted already."

"Hush. Don't spoil the magic," she whispered playfully, cradling the carton between her hands with reverence and holding it up to rest her cheek on its side, sighing in pleasure. "I can't believe Jesse was hiding a working freezer in that cave -" She gave him a curious look "-or that he parted with something stored in it."

So he'd saved the old man's life - no need to make a fuss out of it. In this world, fresh ice-cream was a fair trade in exchange for the deed and Daryl's silence on the matter.

"Perhaps he has a soft spot for troublesome blondes who don't have enough sense to be afraid of a cranky mean bastard."

Beth laughed, looking at him pointedly. "I've met crankier."

Daryl faked a scowl at that, and she giggled in response.

"But seriously, thanks for the treat. It's gonna be _amazing_ ," she said, eyes wide with enthusiasm, as she carefully pried the lid open. "Now grab the spoons from our pack, and let's dig in."

He shook his head. "Brought it for you, girl."

"And I'm sharing," she told him, the tone of her voice hardening just enough to let him know that he had no choice.

Daryl contemplated resistance, just on principle, but the allure of real ice-cream was stronger than the need to prove a little girl had no rule over him. He'd never had much of a sweet tooth before the dead had risen, but his mouth was already watering at the thought of taking a bite too.

Seemed like it took the end of the world to make a body miss its share of processed sugar.

"All right," he accepted, making sure to add a bit of a growl to it anyway.

But Beth just smiled back, waving off his pretense of a bad mood. "You'll love it and you know it," she teased.

He shrugged in acknowledgement, but he wasn't thinking of dessert.

 

The End  
11/07/16


End file.
